PLECTROPHENAX.
Bill as in other Buntings, but without palate knob ; hind claw curved ; wings much longer ; nest, cup in rocks or under stones or logs; eggs yellowish to greenish white with purple shell markings and red brown blotches and spots, rarely streaked.
d adult, summer. Head, neck, wing coverts, secondaries, base of primaries and underparts white ; mantle and primaries black. Bill black. Legs and feet black. Wing 102-117. Tarsus 21-23. Bill 8-1o. In winter, light reddish brown above, some almost chestnut with some of same colour on head, throat and chest ; beneath white ; bill yellowish with black tip. 9 summer. Crown and upper parts dull black with traces of whitish
edges. Winter, duller than a, feathers above with black centres, wings and tail browner and with less white. Wing 96-109. Young : crown, back of neck and sides of head, and rump grey ; back grey buff, streaked black ; beneath, throat grey, breast and flanks grey buff, abdomen pale buff. Fully adult plumage not assumed till after second year.
Range in summer, circumpolar. Breeds in Europe, in Scandi navia south to 6o°, N. Finland, Russia north of 65°, Iceland, Scottish Mountains (small numbers). Migrates ; occurs in winter N. and C. Europe generally ; few to Mediterranean shores, occasional N. Africa, Canaries, Madeira, Azores.